Barcelona Femini won’t defend the Spanish Supercup title in Saturday’s final. Atletico Madrid secured the spot in the final after knocking out the Catalan side after penalties. Despite Barcelona being a better team during the whole duration of the game, they just couldn’t convert their chances.
Barca started strong from the first minute. The most active was Caroline Graham Hansen on the right side but her crosses couldn’t find Jennifer Hermoso in the middle or her shots were saved by Hedvig Lindahl who was always at the right place. Swedish goalkeeper was the best Atletico’s player, also denying Alexia Putellas and Harmoso couple of times. Lindahl also performed nice saves after the shots from Aitana Bonmatí Patricia Guijarro from far away. Despite the fact that Atletico was just waiting for counter attacks and clear Barca’s domination, the score remained unchanged in the first half.
The second half continued where the first one ended. Barcelona was looking to score, Putellas was very active and she was brought down in the box in 54th minute. It was a clear penalty but the referee’s whistle remained silent despite protests of Barcelona’s bench. On the other side, Atletico managed to reach the edge of Catalan box, shot from Deyna Castellanos hit the hand of Andrea Pereira and referee pointed to the spot this time, Merel Van Dongen scored to put Atletico in the lead. In the 70th minute there was another clear handball from Van Dongen but Barca was again left without the penalty. Lluís Cortés’ team was pressuring and finally rewarded in 89th minute when Putellas scored from a free kick at the edge of the box and sent the game into extra time.
In the extra time the pace of the game dropped due to the lack of training in the last days. Atletico organized themselves well and managed to withstand all the pressure, although Lindahl had to make some interventions to keep net untouched. So the penalties were to decide the second finalist.
In the first round of penalties, both teams were unable to convert. Aminata Diallo and Jennifer Hermoso both hit the post. In the second round, Marca Deyna put Atletico on the scoreboard but Mariona Caldentey failed to do so by hitting the crossbar. In the third round, Van Dongen’s shot was saved by Sandra Paños. But Melanie Serrano again failed to find the net after Lindahl’s save. In the 4th round, Marca Lauren and Marta Torrejó were both successful. In the 5th round, Marca Guagni scored and sent Atletico to the final where they will face Levante on Saturday.
You can see the highlights here
Spanish Women’s Supercup Semifinal
Estadio Municipal de los Juegos Mediterraneos
Atlético de Madrid-FC Barcelona 1-1 (3-1) Pens
Scorers: 66th Van Dongen (A) pen; 89th Putellas (B);
Atlético: Lindahl; Guagni, Tounkara, Van Dongen, Aleixandri; Meseguer, Santos (Diallo, 75’), Sampedro (Duggan, 72’); Knaak (Kazadi, 84’), Ludmila (Laurent, 84’), Deyna Castellanos
EDF Logroño: Sandra Paños; Marta Torrejón, Andrea Pereira (Hamraoui, 73’), Mapi León, Leila Ouahabi (Melanie Serrano, 105’); Aitana Bonmatí (Oshoala, 71’), Patri Guijarro (Crnogorcevic, 100’), Alexia Putellas; Caroline Graham Hansen, Jennifer Hermoso, Mariona Caldentey
Referee: Olatz Rivera Olmedo
Cards: Amarillas a Santos (64’), Pereira (65’), Guagni (76’), Leila (81’), Deyna (87’) y Lindahl (110’)